continual
Americanadjective
-
of regular or frequent recurrence; often repeated; very frequent.
continual bus departures.
- Synonyms:
- repetitious, repetitive, recurrent, successive
-
happening without interruption or cessation; continuous in time.
- Synonyms:
- unending, permanent, unbroken, unremitting, uninterrupted, incessant, ceaseless, unceasing
adjective
-
recurring frequently, esp at regular intervals
-
occurring without interruption; continuous in time
Commonly Confused
Although usage guides generally advise that continual may be used only to mean “intermittent” and continuous only to mean “uninterrupted,” the words are used interchangeably in all kinds of speech and writing with no distinction in meaning: The president's life is under continual (or continuous ) scrutiny. Continuous (or continual ) bursts of laughter punctuated her testimony. The adverbs continually and continuously are also used interchangeably. To make a clear distinction between what occurs at short intervals and what proceeds without interruption, writers sometimes use the contrasting terms intermittent ( intermittent losses of power during the storm ) and uninterrupted ( uninterrupted reception during the storm ) or similar expressions. Continuous is not interchangeable with continual in the sense of spatial relationship: a continuous (not continual ) series of passages.
Other Word Forms
- continuality noun
- continually adverb
- continualness noun
- quasi-continual adjective
- quasi-continually adverb
- uncontinual adjective
- uncontinually adverb
Etymology
Origin of continual
First recorded in 1300–50; from Medieval Latin continuālis, equivalent to Latin continu(us) “uninterrupted” + -ālis adjective suffix; replacing Middle English continuel, from Middle French, from Latin, as above; continuous, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some companies have buyback programs that feature continual purchases of shares regardless of recent price movements.
From MarketWatch
A growing field known as online continual learning, he adds, "beautifully mirror the ideas explored in this paper around how evolution, learning, and development engage with -- and benefit from -- variable and dynamic environments."
From Science Daily
“May this collaboration not be a once-off activity, but should remain a continual activity until every terrorist is defeated in Nigeria.”
They geeked out about continual learning, where AI gets smarter as it absorbs new information, and reinforcement learning, or “RL,” a technique in which the models learn through trial and error.
I’ve seen talented, brilliant executives whose confidence has been shaken by the continual rejection of their thoughts and ideas.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
